


The Good News Is, You're Going to Live

by The_wolf_tears_through



Category: Lee Pace - Fandom, Tom Hiddleston - Fandom
Genre: Adam - Freeform, Anal Sex, Angst, Bed ridden, Eventual Sex, Eventual Smut, Explicit Sexual Content, Lee Pace - Freeform, Love, M/M, Multi, NSFW, Not Suitable/Safe For Work, Oral Sex, Roy walker - Freeform, Sexual Tension, Shameless Smut, Smut, Tension, Vampires, smut smut smut, tom hiddleston - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-19
Packaged: 2018-04-15 01:47:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4588380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_wolf_tears_through/pseuds/The_wolf_tears_through
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Adam thinks he's found some easy pickings in the hospital of a 1920's town. He gets much more than he bargains for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The hospital was quiet this time of night, but Adam still tried to keep his steps as light as possible.  It wouldn't do to alert the nurses to his presence, a tall lab - coated doctor with no badge, out of place in this house of the dying. The smell of formaldehyde invaded his nostrils and made his stomach roll sickeningly. He wanted to leave all the sharp scents and human detriment, would leave if he wasn't so desperately hungry. He came across a door marked with a sign fashioned to look like a man in a wheelchair and cautiously pushed it open. No smell in here except that of human skin, so he slipped in and shut the door softly behind him. 

In this room were rows of beds, mostly unoccupied, save one. A man lay there in a  white, long-sleeved gown, his tanned face slack, his breathing the deep, even breathing of the solidly asleep. Adam tiptoed around the room, checking behind curtains to make sure they were quite as alone as he thought. They were. Perfect. 

He crept up to the man, the sound of pulsing blood from a living heart assaulting his eardrums like a bass drum tattoo, the unwashed skin of the man's neck at once repellent and arousing, a promise of the flavour of salty flesh and pumping blood. Adam's breathing sped up, his feral eyes nearly glowing in the dark as he steadied himself on the bedside railing, leaning in to sink his growing fangs into the supple meat.  He would drain him, disappear from this place, move on, and no one would guess a thing. Scant inches from his prize, a strong hand came up and caught his throat, the fingers digging in, sealing off his windpipe. Crazed eyes met his in the dimness as those fingers squeezed, and Adam clutched at them, trying hard to pry them off. 

"What do you want?" Hissed the man in the bed through a clenched jaw. His eyes slid down to Adam's mouth, the lips peeled back in a choked grimace to reveal pointed teeth. Immediately his hold loosened, his face slackening to shock. "Oh. Oh, I..." 

Adam sat heavily down in the chair next to the bed, rubbing his throat as he gasped for air. The man in the bed turned halfway to face him and he tensed, expecting a fight. But the man stayed laying in the bed, his eyes roaming over Adam's face in an unsettling way. 

"So," the man croaked out. He coughed, cleared his throat, started again. "This is how it's going to be, hm? Sucked down by a picture show monster." 

Adam twitched, annoyance flaring up a bit. He didn't generally speak to his meals, but then they usually didn't fight back, and since this one was going to be dead soon anyway, there was no harm speaking. Still rubbing his rapidly unbruising throat, he muttered, "I am no flicker."

"Just as well," the man said quietly, rubbing a large palm over his mouth, blinking. Adam could see the wheels turning in his head, the resignation in his face. Finally, the man leaned his head tiredly back into his pillow, his eyes slipping shut. "It's fine. Go ahead." 

Adam's eyebrows drew together in shock. Where was the fight from before? The fire? "What?" 

The man turned his face away, exposing more of his long, enticing neck. "I said do it, drink me, whatever you call it, just make sure I'm dead when you're done." 

"You're .... you're not going to fight it?" Adam asked, still dubious. He remembered the strength of the hand from before, and was in no state to do battle that would garner attention. 

The man shrugged. "How can I?  I can't move." 

Ah, so that was why he was in here. Paralysed.  "You could be rehabilitated,  though."

The man glanced at him sharply, and Adam felt a surge of surprise at himself. This man couldn't fight, wanted death, and yet here was the vampire arguing for him to find a reason to live. The irony was palpable.  "You could be rehabilitated... they're doing amazing things with science these days." 

"It doesn't matter," the man said quietly. "She's gone."

"Who's gone?" Human beings could be woefully obtuse, especially when death was so close. 

"My ...," the man swallowed hard around the words, "It doesn't matter. She left me." 

Oh. Now this was a familiar story. Adam found his hackles raising, getting a little more riled by this man. How could he possibly know what pain of loss was? He hadn't seen unending cycles of life and death as Adam had, hadn't loved as well or as long, and yet here he was, willing to shuffle loose the mortal coil for the sake of one.  Maddening,  stupid creatures. He clenched his jaw and pointed a long finger at the impassive face of the man in the bed. "Look, mate, I'm the wrong person to talk to about love lost. I'd gone through seven wives before my other half came by, and I'm still here. I live a doomed existence cursed to walk the earth forever, to - "

"At least you can fucking walk!" The man shouted.  "You aren't stuck like this forever, in a god damned bed, rotting alone until you can find someone to take pity on you and just end it!  So do it! Kill me! I FUCKING WANT YOU TO!" 

The man's voice rose to a shout at the last bit, his voice echoing around the room. Out in the hall, the squeak of approaching nurses' shoes. Adam's head snapped up at the sound. He shot up from the chair and bolted for the window, deftly unhinging the lock before throwing open the pane and climbing up on the sill. His heart beat hard in his chest. 

He looked over his shoulder, his hair blowing in the midnight breeze, to the man laying in the bed. The man's face was stricken, his lip trembling, his eyes desperate dark pools in brown sockets. 

"Please, no," He pleaded, his voice steeped in regret. "Please don't leave. Please come back,  help me end it." 

The shoes were closer now, the voices echoing on the tiles in the hall. A glance back and forth from the man to the door, the man and the world outside,  back to the man as Adam clung to the windowsill with his fingers and toes. "What's your name?" 

A puzzled expression crossed the man's face. "Roy. Why?"

"Roy," He said. "I'm Adam. And I will be back." 

With that, he tipped himself over the edge and down into the dark, just as the nurses arrived to tend to their patient. They found him mostly fine, but adamantly refused when they suggested closing the window lest he get a chill.


	2. Chapter 2 - A Taste

He stayed in the shadows while the uproar was taking place. After much debate with himself on the wisdom of getting involved and a short conversation with Eve, Adam had returned to the hospital as he'd promised he would. 

"Of course you should, darling," Eve had said, her voice tinny over the line. She was somewhere in Africa at the moment, visiting with a holy man who lived deep in the jungle. Adam missed her, but knew she'd eventually return, unlike Roy's wayward love.  

"I should have just killed him," he'd grumbled.

"But you didn't, did you?" Her voice was teasing, and he smiled despite himself.   "It's been so long since you've had a friend,  and I'm so far away at the moment. The two of you seem to have a bit in common. There's no need for either of you to be alone."

Her words had resonated with him. Yes, they did seem to share a similar constitution. And it was true it had been a long time since he'd felt connected to anything at all, least of all a human being. So he had come back, fully planning to sneak in the same way he had before, but had stopped and slid back into the shadows when he'd heard Roy's voice raised in a shout. 

"THEY'RE GIVING YOU SUGAR! IT'S NOT REAL, IT'S A PLACEBO, IT'S NOTHING! IT'S SUGAR!" Muffled shushing and other raised voices could be heard, but none of them Adam knew. He knew "morphine", though, which was what the noise seemed to be about, so while they argued, Adam stole down to the dispensary and nicked a small bottle of white pills that he slipped in his pocket.

They were still arguing when he returned, but it was quieter now, most of the fury gone out of the fight. After a time, the fracas died down, and several hospital staff escorted a disgruntled man in a bathrobe towards the main wing of the hospital. 

"I pay far too much to be here for you to not be giving me the real stuff!" He whined, his arms waving frantically as he admonished doctors and nurses alike.  "I'm sick, god damn it, I deserve real care, in a private room, where no low life circus monkeys can steal my pills!" 

They passed close by Adam's hiding place, but, true to the fashion of their kind, didn't even glance his way. Once their arguing voices were out of earshot, he pushed off the wall and slunk quietly into the room where Roy lay.

Roy had his face turned away from the door, but from the dismaying sounds he was making and the light shaking of his shoulders, Adam could tell he was sobbing. He felt a pang in his chest for this miserable creature, who felt so alone even among the millions of his kind who had experienced similar situations over so many centuries.  Did he not know how much worse it could be, how light his burden was compared to some? 

Of course he doesn't, Adam thought, stepping up silently next to the bed. They never do. 

"Roy," He said quietly. 

Roy's head whipped around, his wet eyes shining with fear. When he saw Adam standing there like a living statue, he relaxed some, his hands coming up to wipe the damp streaks from his cheeks. 

"I was starting to think I'd dreamed you." 

Adam's mouth twitched. "No. A nightmare, perhaps." 

Roy chuffed rueful laughter. "Yeah, mine are full of compassionate vampires who tell me what a shithead I'm being."

Despite himself, and much to his surprise, Adam laughed. It felt strange bubbling up from his chest, but a good strange, like relearning an instrument one had ceased to practice. After a false start or two, muscle memory takes over, and you find yourself able to do it again, just as well as ever. And so it was when Adam laughed. 

Regaining control of himself, Adam settled into the chair next to Roy's bed, his elbows on his knees to lean forward conspiratorially. "I'll tell you something. I'm not all that compassionate. My initial plan was not to come back at all, but my wife - "

Roy started, raising up off the pillow. "You have a wife?"

"Yes." 

"Is she a vampire too?" 

Adam shifted under Roy's intense stare. "Yes." 

Roy's head fell back on the pillow. "Figures." 

"What?"

Roy waved a hand at Adam. "Even a dead guy gets someone to love him through eternity, and I'm.... I don't get a happy ending." 

Adam let out an exasperated breath, shaking his head. "It wasn't always so. I was alone, just as you are, for a very long time. I knew love many times, watched it bloom and wither and die all while I stayed the same. Some of the death I was responsible for, and it was usually that of someone I loved deeply. More of them than I care to count. It was exhausting, and made me tired down to my soul with living. Death does not come for me, but it does follow. I gave up for a time on the idea that I deserved love at all. Eve was .... she saved from a cycle that felt like being condemned to hell." 

A wry smile passed over Roy's face. His eyes glittered darkly in the moonlight slatted through the window bars. "And she convinced you to - what? Do that for me?" He rolled his eyes to the heavens and clutched his hands over his heart in mock gratitude. "Save me from my hellish torment?" 

Adam shook his head, chuckling darkly. "No. She convinced me not to eat you just yet. Anyway, I brought you something." 

"What?" Roy asked dubiously.  

Adam reached into his pocket and brought out the little vial he'd taken from the dispensary. Roy's eyes widened when he recognised what it was and lunged for it, but Adam was too fast and easily held it out of his reach, earning him an exasperated noise from the man trapped in the bed.

"Why?" Roy's voice was rough with tears building up. "Why even bring it if you're not going to let me have it?" 

"Oh, I'm going to give it to you," Adam said, uncorking the bottle and tapping four pills into his palm before recorking it and putting it on an empty bed out of Roy's reach. "Twice the prescribed amount. It won't kill you, but you'll get a nice case of the wonderfuls, and some much needed rest. You'll wake up tomorrow afternoon rested, thirsty, and maybe not so much of an insufferable cock." 

Adam poured some water from the jug at Roy's bedside into a glass, then held out the pills in his palm for Roy to take. Roy shot Adam a look of pure contempt. Adam didn't flinch, just stood silently with his palm outstretched, the proffered glass gripped delicately in his other fingers, his expression implacable.  At last Roy relented,  plucking the pills up and dry swallowing them, grimacing as he did. 

"There is no need for showmanship," Adam tutted, "this is not your circus act." 

Roy's eyebrows came together in confusion. "Who said I work for the circus?" 

"The irritated man in the blue robe said so when the doctors escorted him away. Bad form of you to steal his medication, even if he is a whiny prick." 

"Oh, that asshole," Roy sighed, leaning back against the bed, swallowing hard at the memory. "It was a placebo, anyway. Would have done his hypochondria no good.

"And I don't work for the circus. I'm a ...." Roy grimaced, his expression pained, "I was a stunt man." 

Adam raised an eyebrow, settling back down into the chair. "Stunt man?" 

"Yeah," Roy said, "you know, the guys that do the dangerous bits in the pictures?" 

Realisation dawned across Adam's face. "Like Buster Keaton." 

Roy rolled his eyes. "Yep, like Buster." 

"You do dangerous work."

"Not anymore. Not unless I can get fixed some crazy how." He reached for the glass, his hand shaking so that he almost knocked it over.  

Adam picked it up, held it out to Roy so he could take a long sip before he put it back down.  The subject clearly caused his new friend some inner turmoil, so he made a mental note to tread carefully where that was concerned. He sat back, quietly waiting for the medication to take effect.   "Are you feeling better now?" 

"A little. A bit floaty." 

Adam nodded. Truth be told, he felt a little floaty too. It had been days since last he'd had his last fix, and he could hear Roy's blood moving sluggishly in his veins from where he sat. It made him dizzy with need to be so close and deny himself. He'd been trying hard to ignore it, to tell himself he could have a nip off a drunk straggler on the streets on his way out, but the clarion call was getting louder with each passing minute. 

The hunger must have been evident on his face, because Roy spoke quietly. "So have you... uh.... did you eat yet, tonight? You're looking a little peaked." 

"No," Adam croaked, turning his face away. It wouldn't do to have Roy know how much effort it took to just sit.  He might not want the hungry monster to return and remind him of his mortality in that case. It surprised Adam some how much the thought made his heart sink.

"How does that work? Do you take the whole shebang, every last bit? Every night?" Roy didn't look even mildly afraid, just curious. His eyes roved over Adam's face as he spoke, as though seeking answers in the lines and hollows.

Adam sighed. Of course Roy wanted to know, but Adam couldn't help feeling a little protective of his condition. It wasn't a thing he generally discussed with humans. They could find weakness in anything.  They tried to kill you if they knew. But this one.... perhaps he was different.  He sighed, resigned. "No. It doesn't have to be every night. Two or three times a week is sufficient, and it can be a little at a time, not 'the whole shebang', as you said." 

Roy pushed himself up in his bed, leaned forward. "So if you.... bit me..... would I turn into a vampire then?" 

"No, not from a little bite. There are other steps involved." 

"You're hungry now?" 

Adam rubbed his face with both hands, pushing his hair back and tugging the roots. It was hard enough to control himself, worse to have to talk about it. Even harder with Roy looking at him like that, his full lips parted, eyes bright. "Yes." 

"Then have some off me." 

Adam's head snapped up in surprise. What was this human playing at? "I'm not going to kill you, Roy."

The other man spread his hands out in supplication. "I'm not asking you to. You came back when you said you would. You brought me something to help me out, get me relaxed. I want to help you out, too." 

Wary, Adam searched Roy's face. His eyes were clear, bright, with no hint of deception. Hunger screamed in his veins, and Adam swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. "That's very kind, but...." 

"Adam." 

It was the first time Roy had said his name, his deep voice curling around the syllables making Adam shiver involuntarily. His breathing was coming fast now, and he could hear Roy's heartbeat speeding up as well, maybe fear, maybe excitement, and Adam knew for him it was both. He licked his lips, his mouth dry with hunger.

"Adam, please," his voice, so low in the dimness. "Let me help you." 

Adam swallowed hard, eyes flicking over Roy's face.  There was fear there, certainly. Curiosity. And something more, something Adam recognised in himself, a rising sense that this was going to be more than a sip off a friend.  It was lust, pure and simple. 

Do not do this, his mind hollered at him, do not complicate this more than it already is. Say no. Walk away. Disappear. Find a new town. 

But Roy was holding out his hand for Adam to take, and he saw himself reaching for it, numb fingers enveloped in Roy's palm. 

Heard himself speak, "Yes."

He stood on legs that trembled, moved with dark intent towards the man in the bed, the man whose eyes were large and bright and fearful and sad and kind, the man who Eve had said to trust to be his friend. He leaned down like a lover bending to kiss his dearest love, caught Roy's chin on his fingertips and tilted his head up, up, up to expose the warm expanse of tanned throat teeming beneath with redhot life. 

He brushed his lips against the pulsing vein, causing Roy to gasp as goosebumps raised, before whispering again st his skin, "Are you sure?" 

Roy nodded, his breath as fast as a girl panting under her beau in full rut, his voice barely audible over his pounding heart. "Do it." 

He needed no other invitation. His tongue snaked out, planting a slow, wet lick over Roy's pulse before his teeth sank in. Roy gasped, his hands fisting into the back of Adam's shirt, but he didn't cry out or pull away, just allowed Adam access to do what he needed. And oh, the satisfaction. The hot blood pouring into his mouth, the tingle of pleasure in his limbs (so akin to sex), the warmth of the human pressed against him. Bliss. He moaned against Roy's neck, his hand creeping up to delve into the hair at the back of his neck. A few deep gulps and he reminded himself to stop, stop, stop, before his newfound ally was drained to the point of danger. Reluctantly, he pulled back, nipping his lip to get some of his own blood into the mix, laving it over the puncture to stem the flow and close the wound. 

Gasping, he pulled back, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Roy still clutched at him, his eyes heavy lidded and curious, his jaw slack with an expression of - 

Clearing his throat, Adam gently unwound himself from Roy's embrace, his body buzzing with the hints of opiates Roy's blood had shared with him. He sat down heavily. "Thank you." 

"That was - " Roy stopped, his voice deeper than before, heavier somehow. "I, uh.... I hope it helped." 

"Immensely." 

"I feel sleepy." 

Adam smiled a little, leaning his head back on the chair, his breathing starting to slow. "Me too." 

"Will you - "Roy halted again, his eyes lowering in embarrassment. "Will you stay till I fall asleep?" 

Adam considered. There were still a couple of hours before dawn. There was time. He reached out and squeezed Roy's hand.  Was delighted when Roy squeezed back. "Of course."


	3. Chapter 3 - Turns to Want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let the wild rumpus start.

"You're being ridiculous about this." 

"Me? You're the one bringing snacks to your dinner." 

"You're not my.... look, you've got an iron deficiency. You won't take the iron pills I brought you last week, so you're going to eat this whether you like it or not." 

"You can't make me." 

Adam sighed. "No, I can't. But I can tell you that if you don't start eating, I'll get up and leave you here to stew while I have a nip off someone whose blood doesn't taste like shit. Now open up." 

He speared a piece of the steamed broccoli with a fork and brought it up to Roy's face. Roy folded his arms and glared. Adam waggled the fork, unphased by Roy's reproach. "Come on, then. Choo choo, here comes the train." 

Roy rolled his eyes, but opened his mouth and allowed the vegetable in, chewing slowly. 

"There we are," Adam said, trying not to smile. It wouldn't do to mock him now, so he got another chunk onto the fork and waited for Roy to be ready.  

"You know, for a guy who doesn't eat, you sure know how to prepare vegetables." Swallowing, Roy opened for the next one without hesitation.  Around the food, he said, "My blood does not taste like shit." 

Adam raised an eyebrow. "And which of us is more qualified to say that?" 

Roy chewed, considering. "You could tell I had an iron deficiency from the taste?" 

"Yes," Adam said, holding out another mouthful for Roy to take. "Hardly any blood in there at all, really. Just a miasma of morphine and sadness." 

Roy swatted at him, which Adam dodged easily, a smirk plastered on his face. Roy huffed. "Big talk from a guy who smells like patchouli and self loathing." 

"Smells like - ! I do not!" 

But Roy was laughing when he said it, and so Adam's affected affront didn't last long before he too was shaking with laughter. He poked Roy hard in the arm, chuckling.  "I do not, you complete bastard." 

"Ow, ok, ok," Roy smirked, "but really, though, why do you care if I eat my vegetables?" 

Adam hesitated. The truth or a lie? A lie would be that he was indeed concerned with the flavour of Roy's blood. He wanted Roy to be healthy so he didn't accidentally slip off during Adam's administrations. But those would be heavy lies indeed. The truth was far more dangerous for both of them: that Adam had felt a connection when his lips fastened on Roy's neck, a kind of hunger that surpassed blood. He didn't care to mention to Roy that after he'd left that first night, on the way home he'd met a tall boy with dark eyes who leaned against a wall, softly calling in Spanish.  That that boy had looked just enough like Roy that Adam had tossed him a roll of cash and had him come back to his rooms for the day, to quell the burning ache Roy's hands fisted in his shirt had left behind. How he'd run his hands through that boy's hair and made him cry out, pretending it was Roy bucking beneath him, spread wide to his every regard. How the boy had left, wobbly legged and happily touseled the following evening, and Adam had not felt quelled or quiet, but hungrier still for the strangeness of his new friend's body. It was too much. And besides, Roy might not feel the same.  

He peered up from under his dark swath of hair, and Roy was looking at him, a curious expression on his face. Was it hope he saw in those eyes? Adam shifted, uncrossed his legs, cleared his throat.  "I don't want you to get sick, and without exercise you will if you don't eat well." 

Roy nodded, his eyes finally sliding away - was that disappointment on his face? - easing Adam's tension some. Roy ate the rest of the food in silence, but he did finish it. 

"How is your therapy progressing?"

Roy shrugged. "They tell me it's going well. I still can't feel shit below the waist." 

"Nothing at all?" 

"Nope." 

"But they have hope. They're trying to make it all work again, yes? And not even a tingle?" 

Roy raised his eyebrow and gestured to his lower half. "You're welcome to inspect if you like. I promise I'm not lying." 

Adam swallowed hard.  Tried not to think about grazing his fingertips over Roy's abdomen, his spine, his hips, his legs. Failed.  "No. I believe you. I just.... I wish it wasn't so." 

"Join the club," Roy sighed. He glanced across the room at the clock that hung over the archway into the hall. "Oh, hey, it's past three. You should go soon." 

"Yes." Adam stood, digging in his pocket for the morphine and shaking out Roy's allowance. "I suppose I should give you your treat since you ate all your dinner."

"Thanks, dad," Roy muttered, smiling as he took the pills and swallowed them down. Adam tried not to watch as his throat worked around them while he drank. He let out a long "ahh" when he finished and looked up at Adam, a small, strange smile on his face.

Adam narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"What about you? Do you need... uh... one for the road?" Roy looked down at his hands, smiling sheepishly. 

Adam started. His mouth suddenly felt very dry. "Roy. You do not have to do this when I come by. I'm not.... you're not my food source. You're my friend." 

"Am I?" He said thoughtfully, glancing sidelong at Adam, who stood stiffly next to his bedside. "Yeah, I guess I am. Still. I don't. ... I don't mind. The other night, it was.... it was.... fine. You can do it again. If you want to."

Adam's heart pounded so hard he thought it might fly still beating from his ribcage and land with a splat between them in Roy's bedsheeted lap. The offer was tempting,  so, so tempting. Was this not what he had thought of with the boy in the dark, pretended this surrender until the sweat stood from his every pore? Oh, it was, it was, but it felt so much like taking advantage.  Then Roy looked up at him, and his eyes told Adam everything he needed to know. 

Don't leave me, they said, don't reject me. Let me give you what I can because I cannot give you everything I want to give. 

Who was he to refuse such a need? 

Adam nodded. "I absolutely do want to." 

"Ok, but....," Roy stopped, shook his head, a blush creeping up his neck. 

Adam tilted his head,  amused at Roy's sudden shyness. "What is it?" 

Roy shifted a bit in the bed, pushing himself up to sit higher.  "Well.... does it have to be my neck? I'd kind of.... I'd kind of like to see, if that isn't too strange a thing to ask." 

Oh. Oh, oh, oh yes. Adam felt his cock stir in his trousers, thinking of the myriad places he'd love to sink his teeth.  "No, it can be anywhere. Where would you like me?"

He could hear Roy's heart speed up at his words. So. He felt it too. Adam's limbs began to feel heavy from the slow desire creeping through his veins as he watched Roy's eyes flick back and forth with decision.  "Is.... is the chest too hard? Too flat? Because if it is, I can. ...." 

"No," Adam's voice was low, all darkness as he lowered himself to sit on the edge of Roy's bed. Roy's eyes glittered in the dark, and his tongue darted out to wet his lips when Adam leaned forward, his face no more than eight inches away. Adam reached out, ran his cool fingertips along Roy's neck to the collar of his shirt, deftly popping open a couple of buttons, exposing the dip between his collarbones. Roy's eyes slipped shut and he shuddered when Adam pushed the fabric out of the way to reveal more tanned, lean flesh. Adam was near distraction, his eyes seeking to devour every inch of freckled skin, willing his senses to remember the smoothness, the pulse, so that later he could take his pleasure from the memory.  He flicked his gaze back up to Roy's eyes, saw burgeoning excitement under heavy lids, and could take it no longer.

Adam shifted, drawing himself up to kneel on the bed, slotting one of his knees between Roy's thighs (it earned him a gasp from the other man that practically made him moan), and hovered over Roy. He balanced one arm on the headrest of the bed, the other he placed on Roy's shoulder, leaning down until his hair tickled Roy's face. 

"Tell me you're ready," He whispered,  his voice husky. 

"Ready," Roy said. 

Adam groaned, leaning in to bite right above Roy's nipple. Roy moaned loud and long,  his eyes never wavering from the spectacle of Adam feasting off him. For his part, Adam tried very hard not to rub himself against Roy's thigh, or run his hands over the rest of him, but then Roy's hands were delving into his hair, tugging as he groaned and keened, pulling at Adam to bring him up. Adam complied, and suddenly Roy's mouth was on his, tasting his own blood to be sure,  but not caring a stitch because Roy's tongue was exploring the dark cave of Adam's mouth. Adam stiffened for a moment, caught between the desire to be cautious and the desperate want to just HAVE HIM. 

Roy moaned and sucked Adam's lip into his mouth, biting down on it, and there was no more decision to be made. Adam ground into Roy's thigh, his erection painful and hard enough to burst as they furiously kissed each other. Kissing was too delicate a word. This was an animal thing, a chemical reaction, an explosion of hands and teeth and tongue and soul.  

Finally, Roy pulled back, panting, his pupils blown wide. "Adam, please, I want to...." 

Voices in the hallway.  The two men froze, heads snapping up like meerkats sensing a predator.  A shadow of feet beneath the door before the handle turned. 

The pressure was suddenly gone from Roy's body. He turned to see that he was holding air where a moment ago Adam had been pressed against him. He looked around wildly as the door opened from the hall, spilling orange light into the room. Adam was gone.  

"Fuck," He groaned as the night nurses came in, pushing a cart. His hands fell into his lap. Felt something strange under the covers.  Roy frowned, wrapped his hand around it to try and figure out what it was. A moment later, a fearfully hopeful expression of surprise crossed his features. 

He lifted the sheets and grinned, laughter bubbling up from his throat as he stared at the massive erection winking back at him from below.


	4. Chapter 4 - And So It Goes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Definitely NSFW

"It sounds like you've got something lovely,  my darling." 

"But, Eve, he.... he's going to want me to stay with him. You know I can't do that."

"Whyever not?"

"I've got you, and I. ... I know what's going to happen. What always happens." 

"Oh, my love, I'll be here when the two of you are done. I always will be. What's another twenty years? Or fifty?"

"That's just it. I'll be here still, and he'll. .." 

"Adam, listen. He cares for you. You care for him. Let yourself enjoy it, and if it lasts, make him an offer.  We can make room for one more in the fold,  I should think." 

He sighed, pressed his forehead against the wall, the telephone cradled in his shoulder.  She always knew what to say. "You're sure? You don't mind?"

"Darling.  How could I refuse you? Go see him.  I love you." 

"I love you too."

And so the next evening he woke before the sun even set, showered carefully, put on clean clothes, inspected himself with a scrutiny he'd not used in a hundred years or more. Mirrors were useless, so it was just as well his hair no longer grew for him to need to shave at all. He'd left the bungalow that he'd leased  (well, sort of leased.  He'd thrown so much money at the owner he thought the man's eyes would roll out of his skull,  and no more questions had been asked) just after dark, winding his way through the night time streets to the compound that housed the hospital and his friend Roy. 

Friend? He thought, bouncing on his toes outside of the gate, a nervous puff of air escaping his lips. It seems we are much more than that. Steady. It won't do to rush it or push. He still might say no. 

It was true, that. Adam was fully aware of some of the more positive effects of his condition. A look with the right energy behind it could make humans pliant to his desires, touches doubly so. And some of them did tend to get a trifle excited during the feeding process. He tapped his fingers against his thigh, waiting in the shadows for an opportunity to slip in unnoticed, thinking on Roy's reaction to him. Was it the glamour of the vampire that made him act this way? He didn't think it was, no, but it was terribly difficult to be sure. It did tend to fade after prolonged exposure, and Adam dreaded the idea of waking up one evening to find that he'd given his heart over to someone for whom the spell had broken. 

That had happened before too. A girl in Nepal, long before Eve, who'd clung to him every night whispering words of devotion, who he'd sung to sleep and tended with gentle abandon, a girl who'd made him feel so much more a man in love than a monster in the dark. He'd woken one night to find her apartments empty, his heart a sickening lump in his throat when he'd found the note, a simple "I'm sorry" signed with an X. How much blood he'd shed in sorrowful rage at the loss, his own and that of others. It was not a memory he wished to relive. 

Finally the bustle of evening rounds was over, and he slipped through the gate, his step light on the gravel as he kept to the dark. He did not think it was the same with Roy as it had been in Nepal.  He hoped it wasn't.  The very presence of that hope in his heart scared the daylights out of him, and so, when he reached the door to Roy's room, he paused with his hand on the knob. 

You're being an idiot, he chastised himself. All this for one man. You're acting like a nervous suitor at the door of some blushing coquette. You've done this before.  

Yes, he had. But not recently. Resigned to the fact that he was out of practice in the ways of mortal love, Adam turned the handle and pushed through the door, shutting it with a soft click behind him. 

Roy was awake, sitting up in his bed. A dazzling smile broke out over his face when he saw Adam grimly standing there in the archway. "You came back. I'm. .. I'm so glad." 

A small smile crept across Adam's face.  It seemed he was not the only one with reservations. "Why would I not?" 

"Well, last night, when we.... when the nurses came, you bolted. I thought. .. I thought maybe you...," Roy's eye tilted down to his lap, the smile turning bashful. "Maybe you thought better of... of..." 

"Of kissing you."

"Yeah. I mean, you said you had a wife and I .... I kind of sprung that on you." 

On legs he could not quite feel,  Adam crossed the floor to settle on the edge of Roy's bed.  He reached over, plucked the other man's hand from his lap. Brought it to his lips and kissed the knuckles softly. "No. It was unexpected, but... a happy surprise." 

Roy's eyes widened. He shifted slightly. "But your wife - "

"Eve is aware of what is going on," He said quietly, rubbing his cheek against the back if Roy's hand. "She is completely alright with it." 

A sudden laugh bubbled up from Roy's chest. "Your wife is named Eve?" 

"Yes. What's so funny?" 

"It's just...," Roy shook his head, chuckling.  "It doesn't matter.  So... what do we do now?" 

Adam rubbed his lips against the underside of Roy's wrist, feeling the pulse beating under the network of ligaments. "I have a few ideas." 

" Oh yeah?" Roy smirked. "Such as?" 

"Well first.... I should like very much to continue where we left off before we were so rudely interrupted." 

"Then I guess you'd better get up here, hadn't you?" 

"You can't very well come to me."

"Asshole." 

"Ingrate." 

"Who's an ingrate? I've been eating all the stupid broc-"

"Shut up," Adam's voice was rough with excitement as he climbed up onto the bed with Roy, straddling his hips so he could press against the warm, inviting body. Roy responded immediately,  his hands coming round to cup Adam's ass and pull him closer, craning his neck to get at the other man's lips. He moaned into Adam's mouth when their tongues met, nipping Adam's lip and squeezing hard with his hands. Adam began to rock against him, his hands straying down to tug at Roy's shirt.

They broke the kiss momentarily, both panting and giggling nervously like children, as Adam pulled Roy's shirt up and off, unceremoniously depositing it on the floor. He spied a bandage on Roy's chest over the spot he'd bitten last night, and traced over the edges of the tape. 

"What did you tell the nurse?" 

Roy smirked. "I said I tried to roll over and caught myself on the bed rail." 

"Did they believe you?" He trailed his hands over Roy's chest, the skin so tan and hot, his stomach taut from years of outdoor work, unsoftened by months in a bed. Beautiful.  

"No," Roy chuckled. "But it doesn't matter." 

He reached out to tug at the hem of Adam's shirt.  "Now you." 

Adam's eyelashes dipped down as he sat up more fully to grasp the hem of his shirt and pull it off, tossing it over his shoulder.  Roy's eyes were everywhere at once, his fingers following their path studiously. He touched as if Adam's body were a holy thing, some living saint made of alabaster.  "You're so.... smooth." 

"Comes with the territory." Adam shivered under the touch.

"Adam," Roy said, taking great care at choosing his words. "Can vampires... I mean, do you get a.... well..." 

Perplexed,  Adam tilted his head, his hands still roaming over Roy's abdomen as he searched his face. When Roy started to blush and stammer, he understood. Slowly,  Adam lifted off Roy holding himself up with one arm and his toes to unbuckle his belt and strip off his pants. Kicking them off, he sat back down on Roy's lap, his cock standing thick and proud at attention. "Does that answer your question?" 

Roy licked his lips. "Yes. Yes it does." 

"Roy." 

"Hm?" He tore his eyes away from Adam's body to look up at him. 

"Are you wearing anything else under the covers?"

Roy grinned.  "Not a stitch." 

"Good." Adam lifted once more to pull the blankets back, exposing Roy's bottom half. He gasped when he saw Roy fully exposed, the length of his legs, his slim hips, the soft downy hairs on his thighs, the....

"Roy! You've got a...."

"Surprise," Roy smirked, pulling Adam forward to crush him into a kiss. Adam happily reciprocated,  his hands delving into Roy's hair and tugging, illiciting a groan from him.

Hands everywhere at once, the feeling of hot skin pressed against cool flesh, mouths hungry for each other. Sighs in the dark, the feeling of each other too intense for the moment. Bliss.

"I thought you couldn't?" 

"The therapy seems to be working." 

"Can you feel it?" 

"A... a little." 

Adam kissed Roy's neck, his tongue sneaking out to delve into the dip of his collarbone, the hollow of his throat, the center of his chest, his belly button, the curve of a hip, down, down. A soft nip at the top of his public bone, that made Roy jump and gasp. Adam looked up from his position, on his stomach at the apex of his thighs. "May I?" 

Roy took a deep breath, letting it out in a long, slow puff of air.  Nodded. 

Adam grinned up at him, wrapping long, slender fingers around the base of Roy's cock, before laying a long, wet lick from base to tip. 

"Oh, fuck," Roy sighed, his mouth an O of surprise. 

"Do you feel it?" 

Roy nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, I never thought I'd .... please, don't stop." 

"I won't." He licked his hand and wrapped it back around the base, his lips surrounding the head of Roy's cock. He swirled his tongue, dipping into the slit at the top before breaking the suction with a wet pop. Roy groaned, his hands balling up the bedsheets at his sides, his teeth gritted in concentration. Good signs. Adam open wide, slowly,  torturously sinking down Roy's length, pressing his tongue to the back to massage the pulsing veins beneath, then back up, a gentle rythym he matched with his hand when Roy proved a bit too long to fit. 

Roy's stomach tensed, hollowing out as he held his breath, one hand coming up to tangle in Adam's hair. Not pushing, just gripping at the roots, a sensation that sent a tingle dancing down Adam's spine. Adam used his other hand to reach up and cup Roy's balls, gently tugging in time to his sucking. Roy's voice was all music when he finally relaxed and let himself breathe, his words melodious nonsense to Adam's waiting ear.  Yes. More. Please. I want. I need. Don't. Faster. More. And yes, and yes, and yes. ...

"A-Adam," his voice deeply cracked with burgeoning pleasure, "s-st-stop." 

Adam slid back up one final time, his lips swollen and red, chin shining with spit, eyes lidded blue flames burning with lust, but still concerned. "What is it? Too much? Have I hurt you?"

Roy shook his head, breathing hard. "Not even a little, but... I want to.... I mean I know it would be hard to really fuck you, but I'd like to do... something." 

"Ah," Adam glanced around, still lightly stroking with his hand, toying with the head with his thumb. "Any ideas?" 

"One." Roy reached over the side of the bed and pulled the little handle that let down the head of the bed until he was flat. Adam immediately understood, a surge of excitement flooding his system when Roy beckoned him. He shifted until he was straddling Roy's face, gazing at him upside down from between his own legs. 

Roy reached up, his fingers playing on the small of Adam's back, before licking a wet stripe from the tip of Adam's cock to his balls. 

"Christ," Adam hissed, his thighs shaking. Roy angled him just a little then, without warning, sunk Adam's cock in his throat to the hilt. "MOTHERFU- ohhhhh, my god." 

Roy hummed around him, working his way around Adam's shaft with his lips and tongue. 

"You - ," Adam croaked breathlessly, "you did not tell me you - ah - could do that so - oh my god - so fucking well." 

Roy chuckled darkly around him, and Adam's toes fanned from the pleasure of it all, that creeping tingle in his spine getting stronger with each passing second. He lay his forehead on Roy's hip, his own hips slowly undulating, fighting his every urge to fuck that soft mouth until his lips bled. With a groan, he returned his attentions to Roy's cock, that delicious pink skin begging him to taste. A pearly drop of precum oozed from the tip and Adam tongued it off, savouring the salty sweet flavour of his beautiful friend before sinking down. This angle allowed Adam to more fully appreciate his partner, and soon he found that with just the slightest relaxation,  he could fit all of Roy down his throat with ease.  Roy moaned around him, the vibrations pulling guttural animal sounds from Adam's chest. 

Too soon, Adam felt himself nearing his peak, his balls drawing up and the pooling heat in his abdomen spreading to his limbs.  He pulled off for just a moment, gasping, "Roy,  Roy, I'm very close.... so close." 

Roy stopped only long enough to mumble, "Me too, don't stop, please, Adam, don't stop" before returning to the love he was lavishing on Adam's swollen cock. 

Adam stroked him, too far in the tunnel to do much besides shut his eyes and let the air tear through his lungs as he gasped and twitched. He pulled himself out of his haze just enough to sink one final time all the way down on Roy's cock before succumbing to the wave of startling fruition that crashed over his body. His back arched like a cat, his orgasmic shout muffled as he fought to keep up the rythym for Roy, tears slipping out at the corners of his squeezed-shut eyes from sensation. The vibration of his yelling must have triggered Roy, because a moment later he felt a swelling, a twitch,  and then spurt after spurt of Roy's cum filled his mouth. It was so like his blood, so warm, salty, definably HIS in flavour that Adam couldn't help but to swallow it all. He didn't think Roy would mind.

Sweating, panting, he pulled off of Roy and withdrew his cock from Roy's mouth carefully, turning to flop next to him on the bed. His body sang with the aftershocks of love, and he lazily gazed at his lover. Roy's hair was matted to his forehead with sweat, his face glistening with a mixture of that, spittle and... well. 

Adam swiped a small droplet of his own cum off the corner of Roy's mouth, and sucked it off his thumb. Roy watched with fascination, grinning at Adam's exaggerated eye roll of pleasure.  "We're delicious." 

Roy chuckled. "Yeah?" 

"Yeah." Adam nestled down into the crook of Roy's arm, his head resting in tge nook of neck and shoulder.

"So, how do you fe-" 

"Mr Walker, I'm sorry but it seems we didn't bring you your medication and - oh!" The sister who was in charge of Roy's medications swooped into the room, a sunshiney grin on her face. That was, until she noticed the men. The two very naked, sweaty,  bedraggled men meeting her wide, surprised eyes with their own equally shocked expressions. 

"Oh, oh my goodness, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were, ah, entertaining company, Mr Walker, I'll just go, holy mother of GOD, so sorry," she tried desperately to look everywhere except at the two men tangled together on the bed, knocking over a table that crashed to the tiles in the process, crossing herself before finally backing out of the door. They watched her progress silently, mouths agape, and could hear her muttering prayers under her breath all the way out of the building.  

Adam and Roy glanced at each other in shock before they started laughing, their mirth echoing over the walls. 

Adam pressed a kiss to Roy's forehead before extracting himself from the embrace, standing to shake his pants from the pile of discarded clothing. He nodded at the toppled table. "I suppose I should clean that up." 

Roy was still chuckling, his face in his hands. "So there goes discretion,  just right out the window."

"I thought they took vows against spreading your business."

"That's priests, and only during confession."

"Ah. Well I guess she'll have some very interesting things to talk about at her next confession." 

Roy offered Adam a lopsided grin. "It was sort of a religious experience."

Adam raised his hands, a mock saint in naked, post-coital supplication. "Truly a miracle." 

Their laughter echoed over the grounds almost till dawn.


	5. Chapter 5 - Worth Keeping

"Mmmmph..... where did you.... oh.... where did you learn that?" 

Deep in concentration, Adam continued to tongue the underside of Roy's balls, lapping up the seam and swirling the flat of his tongue along each. Thus sufficiently tended, he'd lick all the way up Roy's cock to the tip before sliding back down again, sucking at the skin on his way. It wasn't exactly designed to bring Roy off, just to deliver the most pleasant sensations he could manage. He'd been sure to the point of desperation that he'd never feel them again, and Adam wanted him to enjoy as much as he could, for as long as he could. Years of varied experience had left Adam with a wealth of knowledge, and so far Roy had joyously reaped the benefits. Nightly.

Adam smiled up at him from where he lay draped over Roy's legs, one arm hooked under Roy's thigh to spread him to Adam's administrations. They'd spent very little time clothed this evening, Roy showing an intense and quite pleasing level of libido once he knew it was reciprocated. " I didn't learn it anywhere.  I am possessed of a cock myself, you know." 

Roy smirked, running his fingers over Adam's knuckles. "Oh I know. Come here."

"But I'm busy." Another swipe, combined with a gentle suck at Roy's sack. 

Roy clenched his jaw and groaned, chuckling.  "I can tell. Please?  It'll just take a second."

Adam raised himself up from the v of his lover's crotch, crawling up to lie on his side, head pillowed on his tucked up elbow, free hand stealing down to continue lazily stroking. It wouldn't do to leave the fire untended. Roy turned his head to gaze at Adam, his dark eyes roving over his face with an expression of guarded adulation.  He reached out and ran his fingers over Adam's forehead,  his cheekbones, the dip in the smirk at the corner of his mouth, the sinews of his neck. Adam shut his eyes and allowed Roy to stroke him, only lazily opening them when the touches abruptly stopped. 

Roy was still looking at his face, searching it, but now his eyes held the shine of mild panic. 

Adam sat up, startled. "What is it?" 

Roy shook his head, a fat tear rolling down his cheek. He put his hands up to cover his face, a muffled sob escaping from behind them. 

"Roy," Adam said, alarmed at the sudden change in his lover's demeanour. He sat up further, quitting his idle stroking in favour of prying Roy's hands away from his face. They came away easily enough, but Roy refused to meet his eyes. "No, darling, no, stop, what is it? Tell me." 

"You've - ," Roy's breath hitched in his throat, his tear stained face reddened with embarrassment. "You've been so good to me. K-kind. The last person I was ... this i-intimate with l-left me as soon as she knew I'd never ... never... I don't want to do that again." 

"Oh," Adam said softly, understanding dawning. He straddled Roy's lap, drawing Roy to him and folding him against his chest, rocking gently. "Oh, oh, oh.... shhhh, no. It isn't like that." 

Roy clung to him, his face against Adam's breastbone, sobbing. "But... but I can't. ... I'm even less now than I w-was before...." 

Adam felt a brief flash of anger towards whatever cheap bitch had seen fit to treat Roy so shamefully. His jaw clenched to think that somewhere nearby she might be happily fucking or sleeping in the arms of the prick she chose over this man he held, and silently vowed to himself that he'd find a way to pay her a visit and remind her of her sins.   He combed his fingers through Roy's messy brown locks, planting a kiss on top of his head. "I swear to you it isn't so. You're no less than you were, and no less worthy of my attention because you are as you are." 

Roy looked up, his face streaked with tears, red snaps in his sclera. He took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, a grimace on his handsome face. He unwound himself from Adam and swiped a hand over his face. "I just. ... I don't want to get ditched again. I hate feeling -" He gestured at his legs," useless."

The anger toward the last sorry twat that had damaged Roy this way rose again.  Adam shook his head, quelling it, before pulling Roy's hands up to his own face, pressing the hot palms against his cool skin. He kissed the cup of life, heart, soul lines in each, his deep blue eyes slipping shut to block out the pain he saw in Roy's gaze. Roy really had no idea how similar they were in demeanour, not yet. But he would, in time, and in time learn to trust that Adam was, through the benefit of eternity, in it for the long haul. For now, though, he needed to hear it, sweetly and often, that he was wanted. "You are not useless. When I met you, you were in this bed, and while that hasn't changed, things are.... progressing."

He reached down and gave Roy's still half hard cock a squeeze. He raised his eyebrows, smiling. "Are they not?" 

"Yes, but. ..." 

"No but," Adam leaned down and captured Roy's mouth with his own, his tongue seeking entrance, finding, delicately probing. He kissed his lover deeply, thoroughly, taking his time, feeling Roy's cock answering the promise of his mouth with promises of its own. Reluctantly, he pulled away, pressed his forehead against Roy's.  "Your therapy is working. You are getting better every day. And years from now when all is said and done, I will still be here. Exactly as I am." 

He pressed his lips to Roy's cheek. "Ready..."

His neck, the pulse beneath beginning to pound. "....willing...." 

A nip against the hollow of Roy's throat, a squeeze of his hand, and Roy sucked air in through his teeth. "....eager to give you exactly what you need." 

Roy's throat worked, his hands roaming over Adam's torso and arms, trying touch as much of him as possible. His voice shook. "What about what you need? What if I can't give it to you?"

"You can," Adam said against the side of his neck. "If you want to. I'll gladly take whatever you wish to give." 

"What do you want?"

"You. Everything." 

" Adam. ... can we.... uh, I mean..." 

Adam smirked. Squeezed. Felt Roy pulse in his hand. "What?" 

"Well, it's been a long time since I've had ... well ... sex."  He looked down, a trifle embarrassed by the confession. "Even... before, it had been a while since she and I ... and I. .." 

Pressed into the groove of his neck, Roy couldn't see the sly grin spread across Adam's mouth. "Do you want to be inside me, Roy?" 

Say yes, he thought, his body responding to the image of Roy sliding into him with a rapidity that would have been dangerous to a mortal man's consciousness. Please say yes. 

Roy's hands came up, delved into the hair at the nape of Adam's neck, his mouth pressing against the shell of his ear. "Very much." 

A shiver ran down Adam's spine, and he groaned at the admission. He pushed himself up and reached over to dig in the drawer, laying sloppy kisses on Roy's mouth as he rummaged. Roy nipped his bottom lip and Adam growled softly, his hand closing around what he wanted. He broke the kiss, both of them panting as he sat back on Roy's crotch, bringing out the little packets of lube the hospital staff kept in all patient's drawers as just-in-case medical supplies. 

Just in case, indeed.

Adam tore a corner off one with his teeth, then held it out to Roy.  "Would you like to do the honours, or shall I?"

"I will," Roy said shakily, reaching out to take the packet. He squirted some onto his fingertips and tossed the little foil packet behind him. He pulled Adam tightly against him, and Adam delightedly wrapped his arms behind Roy, their mouths meeting heatedly as Roy's hand snaked around and beneath Adam's ass. 

Roy's fingers trailed over Adam's cleft, spreading him, probing, brushing over the pucker of his back entrance. He swirled his middle finger around the opening, sucking on Adam's swollen lips while gently nudging his way inside. Adam fisted the edge of the mattress behind Roy's head, gasping at the sudden intrusion, but thoroughly enjoying the feeling of gradual fullness once Roy's finger was fully inside. Roy dragged it slowly in and out a few time before adding another, pumping into Adam with an easy rythym.  Adam moaned low in Roy's ear, his hips moving unconsiously against Roy's hand. Roy had big fingers, long and calloused from outdoor work, and they quested with singular purpose for every hidden place within that made Adam writhe. Adam found himself nearly incoherent with  burgeoning need for more, closer, further, anything to get more of Roy against more of him.

"Roy, I. .. I want...." 

"Yes...." He pulled his fingers out and Adam fairly whimpered from the loss of contact. But then Roy was tearing open another of the packets, sliding the jelly over his stiffly jutting member before pressing the head against Adam's waiting entrance. He met Adam's heavy lidded eyes with his own. "Are you ready?" 

Roy's voice shook with excitement, but there was still a hint of fear in his eyes.  Fear that even at this point Adam might tell him no, refuse, reject him outright and laugh while he did so. There was no doubt in Adam's mind that if he begged off and told Roy to stop, he would, but he knew with equal clarity that the refusal would surely break him. He would not, could not hurt this kindred soul, not if he lived a hundred thousand years (which, if he was honest, was not outside the realm of probability). Without a word, he reached between them, held Roy steady so he could sink down on him in a gasping, arching moment. He hissed at the burn from within but forced himself to relax, foregoing a slow entry in favour of the flagrant desire he saw in his lover's eyes  as Roy's fingers dug grooves into his hips. 

"Roy," He breathed, and began to move. Slowly at first, so slowly. It had been such a long time since Adam had had a lover inside him, and Roy was no slouch in the size department. He rolled his hips experimentally, feeling the press of Roy's tip on that aching, swollen spot deep inside him.  Roy moaned loudly, his voice breaking as Adam took up a steady rythym above him, their bodies already becoming slick with the sweat of hungry need. Oh yes. That was the melody Adam remembered. 

Wordless minutes passed, the only sounds that of skin against skin, panting breath, quiet moans of flourishing pleasure into mouths that sucked at needful tongues. Later they would both find the marks of the other: deeply purple bruises sucked onto delicate skin, red half moons where blunt fingernails broke through in moments of mindless, animal passion. 

Roy wrapped his fist around Adam's shaft and began to stroke him in time with the motion of his hips. 

"Ah, fuck," Adam croaked breathlessly, arching back to gaze down at Roy from his fantastic seat. Roy's hair stuck out in wild tufts from all the tugging, his eyes predatory, his face shining with the glow of a man very near his completion. "You.... ah, gods, do you know how beautiful you look right now?"

Roy chuckled, pulling Adam down to bite his nipple till he fairly shrieked. "Not nearly as great as you do with my cock buried in your ass." 

A warning tingle shot up to the back of Adam's skull, the heat pooling in his stomach growing hotter with every stroke of Roy's hand.  He rutted harder against Roy's cock, spreading himself as far as we would go, trying desperately to get him deeper. "T-tell me." 

Roy could see how close he was, and broke out in a feral grin. He grabbed Adam by the hair and sharply yanked him down to growl in his ear. "You look gorgeous up there, riding me, eight inches of cock stuffed up that beautiful ass. I bet even before you were a blood sucker, you made a pretty cocksucker. And now... now you're mine to do with as I please, aren't you?" 

Adam gasped at the words, the sudden shift in Roy's demeanour causing the wave of his desire to begin to crest. Hard. "Yes. Gods yes, I'm yours, I'm yours, whatever you want." 

"I want," Roy snarled, "to see you cum while you fuck yourself on my cock.

"Now, cum."

Such force in that last word. Such animal, visceral demand. There was nothing for Adam to do but heed its call. The wave crested, roared, broke. He came so hard sparks went off behind his eyes, a high pitched wail escaping his chest as he ground down on Roy's cock, his own twitched and spilling ropes of cum over Roy's tight fist.

"God, FUCK," Roy shouted, his head tipping back, the chords of his neck standing out while he came deep inside Adam. 

Adam felt himself being filled, and flopped over onto Roy's chest, shuddering with the pleasure of it all. How lovely a feeling to be satisfied, how strange to feel so at peace. Feeling Roy soften, he gingerly lifted to pull him out, lying still on top of him, breathing hard, as yet unable to come back to earth. No one had ever spoken to him like that before, not even during exceptional sex of which he'd had his share.  And yet there it was. A tingle of aftershock ran through him at the memory.  

Well. Learn something new every day. 

"And where," he said from his place on Roy's chest, his lover's hands roaming over his back in comforting circles, "did you learn to do that?"

Roy laughed, a deep, full laugh that rumbled in his chest. He shrugged, a mischievous look plastered over his newly - satisfied face. "You're not the only one who's lived a little."


	6. Chapter 6 - An Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> No smut in this chapter, just a little humour. Remember that nun that got surprised? Well....

Doctor Macmillan peered nervously down at the papers that had passed across his desk, pausing in his reading every once in a while to glance at the tall, still man seated cross-legged in the other office chair. He didn't much care for the dark demeanour of this gentleman, his strange choice in attire, or the hour at which he had cared to make his business call, but the paperwork seemed to be in order. 

Macmillan sat back in his chair, tapping the edge of the cream file folder his guest had brought against his teeth. Within it were power of attourney papers, consent forms, all stamped and signed by Roy Walker. "So, Mister, erm..... Bosch, is it?"

"Yes." The facial expression was unreadable behind his dark lenses, but the posture never changed.  Not even a twitch. 

"You are aware that Mister Walker will still require therapy?" 

"Of course," his deep voice rumbled over the tiled walls, the tone one of a person trying to convey sincerity to a very stupid child.  Macmillan didn't like being spoken to this way. The clipped, almost offhand answers. "It says in the paperwork that he will get returned twice weekly to your facility for his therapy." 

"Yes," Macmillan steepled his fingers in front of his face, calculating his next words carefully. "And you specify those therapy sessions be conducted. ..." 

"At night, yes. More specifically between the hours of eight and ten pm." 

"Mister Bosch, that is a highly irregular demand to make of my facility, and I can't very well make special rules for each individual,  regardless of ...." 

A soft whump resounded flatly as the man across from him tossed out a banded roll of cash bigger than a roll of duct tape. Macmillan started at the sound. He hadn't even seen Bosch move. He grimaced at the wad of cash as though it might contain a poisonous serpent at the center.  No, he didn't like this at all. Macmillan reached out for the cash, his eyes only glancing down from Bosch as he thumbed the roll. All hundreds.  His heart sped up, a greedy primate rattling the bars of its cage. 

Bosch inclined his head slightly, dark hair falling back from a high, pale forehead. "I'm afraid my days are sacrosanct, and I will be tending to Mister Walker's needs myself until sufficient help has been acquired. I trust that - " He indicated the roll with one long, elegant, leather gloved  finger, " - is compensation enough for your time until then." 

Macmillan took in the man before him, stunned to silence for the time being.  Polished black shoes, long legs encased in black knit trousers, black embroidered waistcoat, the cut of his jacket fitted and elegant but... wrong somehow.  

Put a tophat on this chap and he's straight out of those gothic romances the wife is always mooning over, he thought.  He could feel Bosch's eyes burning through him from behind his dark lenses. He swore silently at himself for shifting uncomfortably under the stare. 

Finally, Macmillan cleared his throat. "Yes. Well. Provided you're certain you can single handedly care for someone in Mister Walker's condition - "

"I am." 

"Ah. Yes. Right then. By all means, yes, we'll fill out the necessary forms and he can be released as early as tomorrow evening." He pressed a button on his desk. "Sister Francis, could you come in here please?" 

Bosch stood, towering over Macmillan, extending his hand. "Thank you for your cooperation, Doctor." 

Macmillan stood, grasping the offered hand. He winced at the grip, the cold of Bosch's palm evident even through the leather. He was relieved when Bosch pulled his hand away, leaving the doctor to unconsciously rub his hand against his pants leg, as if to brush off something distasteful.  

He was further relieved when Bosch's gaze was torn from him by the arrival of Sister Francis through his office door. 

"What can I do for you, Doctor Mac -," the good sister froze in her tracks when she spied Bosch looming like a black buzzard I'm the centre of the room, her face going white. 

"Sister, isn't Roy Walker on your evening rounds?" 

"Yes," she answered in a whisper, her wide, frightened eyes never wavering from Bosch's tall form.

"I thought so. Would you mind escorting Mister Bosch to his room, then?" 

"No need, " rumbled Bosch,  gathering himself together. "I know the way. I shall go inform him of his freedom without an escort, thanks." 

Thus gatherered, he started toward the office door to leave. He stopped in front of the shaking sister, leaning down from his great height to speak softly, "This time, before you come by on rounds, perhaps a knock first, hm?" 

And with that he was gone. 

Macmillan crossed to his office door, watching the coattails of the strange man flap behind him as he strode swiftly across the grounds of the hospital square on his way to Walker's room. He rubbed his chin, looking down at the money in his hand,  wondering just what sort of deal he'd just made. He pushed the flitting thought away,  doubly so the flutter of panic in his stomach. "What an odd man. I had no idea Walker associated with such a strange crowd. I guess that's  Hollywood for y - SISTER FRANCIS!" 

Macmillan was nearly startled out of his skin by the loud crash of Sister Francis falling bonelessly to the ground in a dead faint.


	7. Offering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: monumental feels ahead. I'm sorry. But I did warn you.

Sunlight barely filtered through the black curtains in the bedroom, casting a twilight glow over the two sleeping forms breathing deeply, nestled together in the king size bed. The taller of the two slept on his back, tanned chest rising and falling in the rythym of deep sleep, face slack as his eyes rolled beneath the lids. He groaned softly in his dreams, his brow creasing in some imagined discourse, arms twitching so that the other man curled up next to him stirred. 

Adam cracked a bleary eye at his dreaming lover, wincing momentarily from the brightness of the room. It was very dim in here, but still. He'd have to get another set of curtains to lay on top to block out more light. Couldn't risk having a bright shaft cut through and set him afire while they dozed the day away in each other's  arms. 

Roy groaned again and shifted, his face turning to Adam's, a grimace marring his features. Adam detangled one of his arms from the covers and smoothed it over Roy's hair, making soothing shushing sounds under his breath. Three months had passed since he'd brought Roy home to the little flat, and since then he'd adjusted quite nicely to the reversal of waking hours.  The tan on his limbs and face had faded some, but overall he seemed in much better spirits since leaving the hospital. Adam made a mental note to find a way for Roy to enjoy some sunlight again very soon. 

A smile touched the corners of Adam's mouth. Three months. For him, in the grand scheme of things, hardly a tick of the clock. And yet the time seemed both longer and shorter, forever and not nearly long enough. He'd immersed himself in Roy's daily care. Feeding, dressing, aiding in tasks his body simply couldn't do, helping with therapy sessions, medications. It was exhausting. Adam pressed his face into Roy's hair, inhaling his sleeping scent, a faint mixture of oranges, bar soap, clean sweat. Yes, exhausting. But worth it? More than Roy would ever know.

"Wish it had killed me...," Roy mumbled in his sleep, turning his face away from Adam in a toss of his head. 

Adam frowned.  This was the one thing he hadn't been able to help with, and it killed him inside to think there was an ache in Roy he could not reach, no matter how hard he tried. The accident that had landed Roy in his current physical attribute  had also left him in a precarious mental state, caught between hoping to be miraculously healed and wanting desperately to have it all end. Adam stroked his hair and gazed at his lover's pulse thoughtfully.  

Well. He could relate. 

Eternity, no matter how glamorous it looked on paper, was often incredibly dull or fraught with unimaginable pain. Adam had spent years in hiding at the beginning of his night time life, very much the fairy tale monster, full of self loathing and fear of his condition, half wishing that some vengeful Van Helsing would appear to stake him and stuff his severed head with garlic. It had not happened.  He had survived. And in survival had come a kind of rueful clarity.  He'd realised that despite its drawbacks, he had the burden of centuries that would allow him to watch the world turn,  the rise and fall of the creations of mankind his private picture show. The fierce need for closeness,  a touchstone of some kind to mark the decades, often led him to love he couldn't keep. There was always the ache of goodbye while he himself remained the same, a grim scientist of human mortality scratching another closed set into the equation.  He'd eventually met others of his kind, some brilliant enough to emulate, one so remarkable that he'd found a more purposeful love and tied himself to her forever. 

Forever and forever and forever.

He chewed his lip, his fingers trailing over the dip in Roy's clavicle. The warmth of Roy's sleeping body radiated into Adam's chilly palm, a living heat that kept Adam pressed close even on the hottest of days. He wanted to absorb as much of it as he could, as much of Roy's smell, his taste, the feeling of his palms, his mouth, his hair, all of it, before the inevitable came to pass.  Roy would slip into the earth, and Adam would slink back to Eve, his heart heavy and tearful eyes sloshing with the ebb of tides he could not change. 

Or could he?

He propped himself up on one elbow, slender fingers pressing Roy's jaw to bring his face back around. He passed his thumb over Roy's lips. So beautiful. It would be so hard to let him go. And Eve HAD said that if Adam found he loved more than just the release a brief coupling of body and mind could give, that he should make Roy an offer to step into the night with him. 

He leaned in, craning his neck to press his lips softly against Roy's.  "Wake up, darling." 

Roy mumbled something incoherent against Adam's mouth.  Adam kissed his face, his eyelids,  his cheeks, his neck.  "Wake up so I can love you." 

Roy moaned grumpily, his hands coming up to push off Adam's advances, but there was no real protest in it. His eyes opened dreamily to gaze at Adam above him. 

Adam stroked his cheek, relishing in the fact that Roy nuzzled into his touch. "Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies, which busy care draws in the brains of men, therefore thou sleep'st so sound." 

Roy smiled tiredly, knitting his fingers behind Adam's neck. "What?" 

Adam chuckled, shaking his head. "Nothing. You were dreaming. Talking in your sleep." 

"Was I?" Roy frowned slightly, trying to remember. "Did I say anything interesting?"

"Some." Adam leaned in and kissed the hollow of Roy's throat, the tip of his tongue delving in to taste the salt on Roy's skin. 

"What time is it?" 

"Just past tea time, I should think." 

"Are you hungry?" 

The question always caught Adam off guard. Roy was so matter of fact about the whole thing, so unusual from the rest of his kind. It usually took them an inordinate amount of time to notice anything around their dulled senses, but when they did it was all running and screaming.  

There should be a term for it, he thought. 

But with Roy there had been no running, and certainly no screaming.  He had seen the hungry monster, looked into its eyes, and reflected back compassion. Right now those eyes were sleepily meeting his own with interest. Roy had taken it upon himself to eat well, keep himself strong, so that Adam didn't have to search to find a food source on top of providing all of his personal care. It had touched Adam and also made him feel slightly guilty, as though Roy was somehow whoring himself for his benefit. Adam tried not to sip off Roy more than he needed to, but sometimes, in the heat of love, Roy would beg for it, the breathy moans issuing from his mouth when Adam broke his skin bedroom hymns to the god of night.

The thought caused a stirring Adam tried to ignore. Failed.  "A little bit, yes."

Roy smiled, wiggled a little under his lover. It helped Adam not at all.  "Will you give me something to think about while you do it? You know, to... distract from the pain." 

Adam shook his head, more laughter bubbling up from his throat.  It seemed he laughed much more with Roy around than he had in years. "Of course." 

He shifted a bit, reaching into the drawer of the bedside table for the little tube of lubricant Roy had sent him to get a few nights ago. The pharmacist had eyed him reproachfully and he'd felt surprisingly nervous with his only purchase, bouncing a bit on his heels until he had gotten it home. He'd thought Roy had wanted a repeat of the night in the hospital, but Roy had refused, looking shyly down as he explained what he wanted. Adam had understood. They hadn't used it that night, they were both too tired after Roy's therapy, but perhaps now ....

"Do you want me?" Adam shifted until he was lying atop Roy, his erection pressing heavily against Roy's crotch. He was happy to find his lover already in a similar predicament.  He rolled his hips experimentally, illiciting a hiss from Roy. "Come now, darling, use your words." 

"Ass," Roy said under his breath, a lopsided grin on his face. "Yes. Yes I do." 

"Mmmm....," Adam kissed under his jawline, deftly popping open the lube with one hand, coating his fingers and palm, all the while laying messy open mouthed kisses all over Roy's neck and chest. Roy gasped when Adam bit his nipple, but his cheeks were flushed and his eyes were shiny with excitement. "And what, pray tell, would you like for me to do?" 

Roy clicked his tongue, his head falling to the side. It was a point of some playful contention that Roy had trouble telling Adam exactly what he wanted, and Adam took an impish pleasure in forcing him to ask for all the filthy things he desired. He eventually would inevitably cave, sometimes shouting his needs in a dark, growly voice that sent Adam reeling.  Adam sat back on his heels, the blankets falling away from the both of them, his slim, naked body slotted in the v of Roy's legs. 

He ran his unlubed fingers up the length of Roy's thigh. "How is it today? Can you feel this?" 

Roy nodded almost imperceptibly. "A little bit, yeah." 

Adam wrapped his lubed hand around his own cock, stroking lightly, with little purpose than to touch while he touched. His fingertips grazed Roy's hipbone, was pleased to see a shiver ripple up Roy's body. "And here?" 

"Y-yes."

Slowly, slowly now, the fingertips made their way below to run ridged pads delicately down the seam of Roy's balls.  "Here?" 

Roy groaned and gritted his teeth. "God, fuck, yes." 

Adam pulled his hand away from Roy's body, a mischievous smirk plastered on his face.  "Then tell me what I should do." 

Roy let out an exasperated growl, his hands coming up to rub his face hard. "You're not going to make this easy on me, are you?" 

"No." 

Roy sighed, his eyes following the slow stroke of Adam's hand. "Ok.... well.... how about you touch me like that?" 

"Like what?" Teasing, squeezing his fist around himself and moving his hand a little faster. 

"Like....," Roy growled again, his hand suddenly wrapping around Adam's loose arm to pull the other man down on top of him. His lips sought Adam's hungrily, nipping and sucking in his tongue while he crushed Adam to him. Adam moaned into his mouth,  his cock jumping in his hand from the sudden show of forcefulness. He heard a click, then Roy's slick hand was snaking between them, the large palm engulfing both their cocks, pressing them together and beginning to stroke. "Like this."

"Ah, fuuuuuck," Adam moaned loudly from the crook of Roy's neck, his hips responding unbidden to fuck into Roy's hand. The sensation of them together was deliciously intense, slick and hard at the same time, and combined with the pound of Roy's blood in his ears, almost enough to send him over the edge much too quickly for his liking. 

Roy nipped at his earlobe and he could take the torment no longer. Holding himself up on his elbows, biceps trembling, he sunk his teeth into the muscle of Roy's shoulder near his neck. Roy growled deeply from the sudden sting of Adam's fangs penetrating his flesh, his hand squeezing them together hard as he worked. 

God, the taste of him. A roar built up in Adam's ears, the combined sound of rushing blood and beating hearts, the slick sound of them stroking together, Roy's breath in his ear.  A few gulps in, the volume knob was dialed back again, and he stopped, biting his cheek and closing the wound. His spine crackled electricity from the fix and all at once he needed more of the man beneath him. 

He reached over and poured a little more of the lube into his palm, rubbing it in his hand until everything was slick, then pushed himself into a sitting position. He used his thighs to wedge Roy open into a more convenient position, humming in pleasure when he had him arched exactly as he wanted. He ran his unlubed hand over Roy's abdomen.

Roy still held his cock, nervously watching Adam's hand as it slid between them and underneath. "You said the feeling is good today, hm?" 

Roy nodded. 

"Good," Adam purred, his voice all chocolate as he pressed one long finger up in between Roy's ass cheeks, stroking delicately at the puckered entrance.  

Roy reacted immediately, his eyes going wide, his hand not busy coming up to cover his eyes. Adam reached out and plucked it away. "Don't hide from me. Never from me. Understand?" 

Roy nodded, his throat working. Adam smiled at him, pushing his slick digit into Roy slowly, slowly, until he was in to his last knuckle, his fingertip firmly pressed on the little knot inside. Roy clenched his jaw, a groan escaping between his teeth.

"I'm not hurting, am I?" 

"No." So faintly it was barely a whisper. But Adam heard. He began to move his hand, slowly at first, then more rapidly as Roy began to make noises more at home in a brothel than their little flat. Adam added another finger, careful to stretch Roy out as much as he could. He would need it. 

Roy's grip on their cocks began to flag,  stuttering as Adam found new places to graze, press, curl his fingers into. 

"Roy," He whispered, his voice husky. "Will you let me, this time?" 

Roy swallowed, his eyes sliding to the side to meet Adam's, so dark and close,  two sets of pupils blown with the sparking fuses of sex. "I think.... yeah. Yeah, I will." 

"Tell me." God, it was almost too much to bear. He willed himself to be steady, to wait. But it was so, so hard. 

Roy let out a whine of exasperation. "ADAM." 

"Shhhh," Adam soothed. "Just a few words is all it'll take, darling." 

"Adam, I. ... I want you to. ... ah, fuck it," Roy used his arms to haul himself into a sitting position in Adam's lap, surprising the absolute hell out of his lover when his arms hooked around him like steel bars, holding him in position, his ass centimetres from Adam's cock, the heat coming off him in delicious waves.  He pressed his mouth hungrily to Adam's, before pulling back with a wet pop. "Fuck me as hard as you can. Don't stop. I want to cum with you inside me." 

He stopped speaking, taking in the shocked expression on Adam's face. All at once, the shyness crept back in, his lashes dropping low, a bashful grin on his face. "Please." 

What a thing to be asked. His skin fairly prickled with desire, his cock achingly erect, moreso than it had been in half a century, even for Eve. Adam wrapped one arm around Roy's back to hold him in place, sliding his fingers out from inside to help position himself at Roy's entrance. What else could he do but oblige?  "As you wish." 

He pushed in, sighing when he felt the tightness envelope him, carefully letting Roy adjust. He knew it might hurt, and it would not do to get ahead of himself or Roy. Roy whimpered some when Adam's head slipped past the anal ring, but he bit down on Adam's shoulder to muffle the sound. 

"Can you - oh gods - can you feel me?" 

"Ye-e-es...." 

"Oh, bless those fucking doctors.... mmmph." He bucked up into Roy, hilting himself all at once, and Roy cried out, his fingernails digging into Adam's back and hairline as he clung. 

Adam reached below them to cup Roy's ass and hold him in position while he pounded up and into his lover. There was no time for gentleness, not when Roy's blood screamed in his veins, not while Roy moaned like a whore impaled solidly on his length.  Maybe another time, but now all Adam could hear was Roy's keening, his begging, his promises that he was nearly there, just a little more, more, more.

The heat began to pool in Adam's belly and he pitched forward, pinning Roy under him so he could pull his legs up higher, thrusting deep and hard into the hot, pulsing opening that kept him trapped and drove him almost to madness with heated desire. He laid sloppy kisses all over Roy's neck, his chest, his mouth, and Roy reciprocated with wild adandon. 

A few more strokes was all it took before Roy's groans began to pitch higher with his imminent release, his body tensing so that he squeezed Adam from within. "A-Adam, I'm going to...." 

"Yes, I know, I feel it, me too...." 

"Just keep ..." 

".... yes...." 

"Ah, fuck..." 

"My g-g-GOD......" 

Fireworks. A light show behind the eyes that could be compared to nothing on this earth.  

Afterwards, Roy lay beneath him, panting and looking deeply satisfied. Adam could not find the wearwithal to move properly, his limbs buzzing with the aftershocks of release. It felt so good to lay here, to rest himself against Roy with no urgent reason to move. He poked his tongue out to catch a bead of sweat that trickled down Roy's jaw, letting the salt spread out on his mouth. At last he thought Roy might need some breathing room, so he extracted his softening cock from his lover (who made a laughing noise of mock displeasure), depositing himself on the bed next to him with a soft whump. Dust motes flew up to dance in the early evening gloom, their spirals making patterns in the air. Adam tracked from his spot on his back. 

He looked over to see Roy drifting again, his blissed out body sounding the clarion call back to Bedfordshire. His stamina did not match Adam's. He was only human, after all. Adam reached out and stroked his arm. "Roy." 

"Hmm?" 

"Would you....," he hesitated, his voice lodging somewhere behind the lump that had suddenly developed in his throat.  

Roy cracked an eye, his arm half over his face. "What is it?" 

Adam shifted under Roy's glance, suddenly embarrassed by his stilted speech. This needed to be right. "Would you ever consider staying with me?" 

"I am with you." 

"No, I mean...," Adam gazed at him in the half light, his face, his eyes, searching. "I mean forever." 

Roy uncovered his face and propped himself up on one elbow, his expression one of calculation. "You mean be a ... be like you?"

Adam nodded, the lump too large now to make a sound. He splayed his hands protectively over his stomach and waited.

Roy lay back down, his eyes studying the ceiling tiles as if answers might lie there. Just when Adam became nervous that he wasn't going to answer, cursing himself for screwing up this wonderful thing he had from selfishness, Roy spoke. "I don't know. That's a really big question.  Would I stay like this?" 

He gestured to his legs. Adam frowned, thought of Marlowe and his ailments. "I'm not sure." 

"But I'd live forever?" 

"Yes."

"Is it worth it? To live forever?" 

Adam weighed his answer carefully. Saw all the centuries of loneliness, the fear, the wishing for a death that did not come. The lives that he'd seen bloom and die. The times he'd wept at gravesides of those he could never join in paradise. The notion that perhaps for those like him, there would never be a paradise, even in death. 

"Yes," he lied.  

Roy nodded, rubbed his chin, considered.  He didn't speak for a long time. Adam watched him in the gloom, hope like a stone threatening to weight his belly down to the floor. Roy turned his head to look at him, his arm coming out to pull Adam close against his chest. Adam obliged, his arm wrapping around Roy's waist. 

When Roy spoke,  the rumble of his words resonated in Adam's ear. "I think I might not be cut out for eternity, Adam. I mean, I find it hard to cope with things as they are now, but to have to do it forever,  with no end in sight..... it seems too vast, and very lonely." 

He kissed the top of Adam's head. "Right now is good. This time, this place. You. I want this. But I don't know if I can want it forever." 

Adam nodded, his calm voice belying the icy dump of sadness that spread through his chest. "I understand.  Please say you'll think about it." 

"I will." 

Comfortable and warmed by the recent loving, Roy had already begun to drift again. Adam sat up, kissing him delicately on the end of his nose. "We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep." 

Roy's voice, from the edge of the aether. "Who said that?" 

"A friend. Now get some sleep." 

He waited until Roy's breathing evened out in deep sleep before untangling himself from the sheets and rising, padding into the kitchen in his robe. He sat at the the table, fingers laced together, staring into space as the clock on the wall ticked inexorably round on its forever journey. Tears spattered the backs of his hands, but he was so lost in the past he didn't notice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quotes : 
> 
> "Thou hast no figures nor no fantasies  
> Which busy care draws in the brains of men  
> Therefore thou sleep'st so sound" is from Julius Ceasar, written by Wm. Shakespeare. 
> 
> "We are such stuff as dreams are made on  
> And our little life  
> Is rounded with a sleep" is from The Tempest, also by Wm. Shakespeare, though for the purposes of this work, I implied help from one Christopher Marlowe.

**Author's Note:**

> * this is the opening of a larger work. Please enjoy.


End file.
